"Give Blood" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Pete Townshend | ||||
from the album White City: A Novel | ||||
Released | 1985 | |||
Recorded | 1985 | |||
Studio | ||||
Genre | Rock | |||
Length | 5:44 | |||
Label | Atco | |||
Songwriter(s) | Pete Townshend | |||
Producer(s) | Chris Thomas | |||
Pete Townshend singles chronology | ||||
|
"Give Blood" is a song by Pete Townshend, the guitarist for The Who. The song is the opening track for Townshend's fourth solo album, a concept album titled White City: A Novel , and was released as a single. "Give Blood" features Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour. He also appears on another song from the album, "White City Fighting", the music for which was written by Gilmour.
The song was used to encourage blood donation on June 14, 2021 on World Blood Donor Day. [1]
When Townshend was asked about the song he said:
Give Blood was one of the tracks I didn't even play on. I brought in Simon Phillips, Pino Palladino and David Gilmour simply because I wanted to see my three favourite musicians of the time playing on something and, in fact, I didn't have a song for them to work on, and sat down very, very quickly and rifled threw [sic] a box of stuff, said to Dave, "Do one of those kind of ricky-ticky-ricky-ticky things, and I'll shout 'Give Blood!' in the microphone every five minutes and let's see what happens." And that's what happened. Then I constructed the song around what they did. [2]
In an interview with Modern Drummer , Phillips recalled that the instrumental track originally lacked a bass guitar and instead consisted of an electric guitar with echo. For the purpose of augmenting the electric guitar track, Phillips created a drum part built around sixteenth note rhythms and a prominent backbeat. His drum work on "Give Blood" was later highlighted in the 1986 edition of Modern Drummer's Best Recorded Performance Chart. [3]
The single failed to chart in UK or to make the Billboard Hot 100 US Pop Chart, but reached number 5 on Billboard 's Mainstream Rock Charts. [4]
Cash Box said that the song was "strong paean to world peace." [5] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic ranked "Give Blood" as one of Townshend's best compositions, calling it "anthemic". [6]
Chart (1986) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australia (Kent Music Report) [7] | 77 |
Germany (Official German Charts) [8] | 61 |
Simon Phillips is an English jazz fusion and rock drummer, songwriter, and record producer, based in the United States. He worked with rock bands during the 1970s and 1980s, and was the drummer for the band Toto from 1992 to 2014.
Empty Glass is the third solo studio album by English rock musician Pete Townshend, and his first composed of original material, released on 21 April 1980 by Atco Records.
White City: A Novel is the fifth solo studio album by English rock musician Pete Townshend, released on 11 November 1985 by Atco Records. The album was produced by Chris Thomas and it was recorded by Bill Price at three separate recording studios in London, England: both of the Eel Pie studios, and AIR.
About Face is the second solo studio album by English singer and musician David Gilmour, released on 5 March 1984 by Harvest in the UK and Columbia in the United States, a day before Gilmour's 38th birthday. Co-produced by Bob Ezrin and Gilmour, the album was recorded in 1983 at Pathé Marconi Studio, in Boulogne-Billancourt, France. The lyrics of two tracks, "All Lovers Are Deranged" and "Love on the Air", were written by Pete Townshend of the Who. Townshend's version of "All Lovers Are Deranged" appears on his solo album Scoop 3.
"Won't Get Fooled Again" is a song by the English rock band the Who, written by guitarist and primary songwriter Pete Townshend. It was released as a single in June 1971, reaching the top 10 in the UK, while the full eight-and-a-half-minute version appears as the final track on the band's 1971 album Who's Next, released that August. In the US, the single entered Billboard on 17 July, reaching No. 15.
All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes is the fourth solo studio album by English rock musician Pete Townshend, released on 14 June 1982 by Atco Records. Chris Thomas produced the album and it was recorded by Bill Price at three separate recording studios in London, England, which were Eel Pie, AIR and Wessex. The album peaked at No. 32 on the UK Albums Chart, and at No. 26 on the US Billboard 200.
"I Can't Explain" is a song by English rock band the Who, written by Pete Townshend and produced by Shel Talmy. It was released as a single in the United States on 19 December 1964 by Decca and on 15 January 1965 in the United Kingdom by Brunswick. It was the band's second single release and first under the Who name.
"Love, Reign o'er Me", subtitled "Pete's Theme", is a song by English rock band The Who. Written and composed by guitarist Pete Townshend, it was released on 27 October 1973 as the second single from the band's sixth studio album and second rock opera, Quadrophenia. It is the final song on the album, and has been a concert staple for years. The song peaked at number 76 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 54 on Cash Box.
"Eminence Front" is a song by the Who, written and sung by lead guitarist Pete Townshend. It appears as the sixth track on the group's tenth studio album It's Hard (1982). The single entered Billboard Hot 100 on 25 December 1982, reaching number 68.
"You Better You Bet" is a song by British rock band The Who, appearing as the first track on their 1981 album Face Dances. It is sung by frontman Roger Daltrey with backing vocals from Pete Townshend and bassist John Entwistle.
"I'm Free" is a song written by Pete Townshend and performed by the Who on the album Tommy. The song has since been released as a single, becoming one of the best known tracks from Tommy.
"Peg" is a song by the American rock group Steely Dan, first released on the band's 1977 album Aja. The track was released as a single in 1977 and reached number 11 on the US Billboard chart in 1978 and number eight on the Cash Box chart. With a chart run of 19 weeks, "Peg" is tied with "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" and "Hey Nineteen" for being Steely Dan's longest-running chart hit. In Canada, "Peg" spent three weeks at number seven in March 1978.
"Squeeze Box" is a song by the Who from their album The Who by Numbers. Written by Pete Townshend, the lyrics are couched in sexual double entendres. Unlike many of the band's other hits, the song features country-like elements, as heard in Townshend's banjo picking.
"Slip Kid" is a song from the Who's seventh album, The Who by Numbers. Written originally for Pete Townshend's shelved Lifehouse rock opera, "Slip Kid" was revived in 1975. The song was originally written as a warning about the music business, though Townshend has pointed out the song's relevance in different contexts. The song was released as a single in the US, backed by "Dreaming from the Waist", but failed to chart.
Parting Should Be Painless is the fifth studio album by English singer Roger Daltrey, released in February 1984, on the label Atlantic, in the United States, and on WEA in Germany, and Japan. The album was Daltrey's first solo album since the initial break-up of rock band the Who, and the first by any member of the band since the break-up. "Walking in My Sleep", "Parting Would Be Painless", and "Would a Stranger Do" were all released as singles. Two of those singles failed to chart, while "Walking in My Sleep" was a success, peaking at No. 4 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.
"Tonight She Comes" is a 1985 song by American rock band the Cars from their Greatest Hits album. It was released as a single in October 1985, reaching number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1986. The song reached number one on the Top Rock Tracks chart, where it stayed for three weeks.
"It's Hard" is a song written by Pete Townshend that featured on British rock band The Who's tenth album, It's Hard, of which it was the title track. It was released as the third and final vinyl single from the album in 1983, backed with the John Entwistle written song "Dangerous", but failed to chart, although it reached number 39 on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks. This would become the last Who single of new material until "Real Good Looking Boy" in 2004, and the last album single by them until "Black Widow's Eyes", two years later.
"Save It for Later" is a 1982 song written and recorded by the British ska/new wave band the Beat. The song was released as a single from the band's third and final studio album, Special Beat Service (1982), finding moderate chart success in Britain.
"Face the Face" is a song by Pete Townshend. The song is the third track on Townshend's fourth solo album, a concept album titled White City: A Novel, and was released as a single. The UK and US single edit features Pete Townshend's daughter Emma Townshend singing some parts on the song.
"Disappointed" is a 1989 song by post-punk group Public Image Ltd. It was the first single from 9, their seventh studio album. Lyrically, the song was inspired by John Lydon's experiences with friends within the band throughout its history, who he commented often let him down. Musically, guitarist John McGeoch used an alternate tuning courtesy of Who guitarist Pete Townshend to begin composing the song.